Author W. Bruce Cameron asks students at Beach High School to raise their hand if they own a dog at the start of his talk Friday at the school’s media center. Cameron is the author of “8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter” and its sequel, “8 Simple Rules for Marrying My Daughter.”

Best-selling author W. Bruce Cameron starts his day with a three-hour bicycle ride.

“That’s how I generate ideas,” he told a group of Beach High School students. “Then the only way to get it done is to sit and write. No one has been able to figure out any other way of doing it.”

Cameron was one of 14 participants of the 2013 Savannah Book Festival who spoke at local high schools and colleges Friday, a day Cooking Channel star Bobby Deen and Southern Living editor-at-large Kimberly Schlegel Whitman headlined a new lifestyle feature and best-selling author James Patterson delivered the festival’s sold-out keynote address at Trustees Theater.

At Beach High, Cameron told the students about the perils and pleasures of being a writer, admitting he knows plenty about both.

Cameron is the author of the best-selling book “8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter,” which was the basis for an ABC sitcom. Its sequel, “8 Simple Rules for Marrying My Daughter,” was released in 2008, and already had a Hollywood movie deal before its publication.

Before his presentation, Cameron said he has learned a speaker has just 90 seconds to capture an audience.

“If you just get up and talk, you lose them,” he said.

Instead, after a brief synopsis, Cameron turned the tables by telling his listeners to ask him questions.

So how does an author get a movie deal? Through an agent, Cameron said.

“There’s a buffer between writers and the studios,” he said. “You have to submit to an agent. You’re really cut off from the studios.

“A lot of writers choose not to be screenwriters,” Cameron said. “There’s nothing worse than sitting down and being told what a piece of dreck your work is.”

Although Cameron started writing at a young age, it took years to achieve success.

“I wrote my first book in high school. It was terrible,” he said to laughter from the students.

“Back then, we didn’t have computers; we had typewriters. Still, I rewrote everything three to four times.”

Rewriting didn’t help. Cameron said he wrote nine novels before finally succeeding with “8 Simple Rules.”

“I wrote some really terrible novels,” he said. “It’s always important to be willing to say, ‘This is no good,’ and start over. It’s not worth trying to fix something bad.”

It took two years to sell his novel “A Dog’s Purpose,” which later became a huge success.

“Long after I’d given up, I got a phone call from my agent, who said we’d gotten an offer,” Cameron said.

“If it was such a good book, why didn’t anyone want it? Nobody knows. I’ve written others since I’ve been successful that I haven’t been able to sell.”

It takes Cameron about a year to write a book. “Some days, I don’t get much work done because the words just aren’t coming out,” he says.

Writer’s block can affect students, too, as they write papers or work on homework assignments, Cameron said.

He offered some suggestions.

“Interact with something else,” Cameron said. “Make some food. Do something creative. Even if it’s drawing a picture or writing a song, it will help stir the creativity.”

The festival continues today with presentations and signings with 34 authors from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Telfair Square. All are free and open to the public.

“Start Your Morning with Jeff Kinney,” author of the “Wimpy Kid” series, will take place at Trustees Theater, but tickets are sold out.

The final event of the festival, the closing address by David Baldacci on Sunday, also is sold out.

TODAY

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Telfair Square spectacular. All author lectures and signings in and around Telfair Square are free to attend. Books for signing should be purchased through the Savannah Book Festival’s bookstore in Telfair Square.

Trinity United Methodist Church, 225 W. President St.

9-10 a.m. Hoda Kotb

10:15-11:15 a.m. Al Gore

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.Heidi Kraft

1:30-2:30 p.m. Jake Tapper

2:45-3:45 p.m. Evan Thomas

4-5 p.m. Garry Willis

Jepson Center, Neises Auditorium

9-10 a.m. Daniel Pink

10:15-11:15 a.m. B.A. Shapiro

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Paula McLain

2:45-3:45 p.m. Don Mann

4-5 p.m. Leonard Pitts Jr.

Telfair Academy, Rotunda

9-10 a.m. Colm Toibin

10:15-11:15 a.m. Isabel Wilkerson

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.Ben Fountain

1:30-2:30 p.m. T.C. Boyle

2:45-3:45 p.m. Richard Paul Evans

4-5 p.m. Claire Cook

Telfair Academy, Sculpture Gallery

9-10 a.m. Karen Thompson Walker

10:15-11:15 a.m. Joseph Kanon

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Susanna Sonneberg

1:30-2:30 p.m. J.R. Moehringer

2:45-3:45 p.m. Bruce Cameron

Telfair Square Tent

9-10 a.m. Mary Sharratt

10:15-11:15 a.m. A.J. Jacobs

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.Griff and Cheryl Day

Noon-2 p.m. Gregg Allman, book signing only

1:30-2:30 p.m. Mark Murphy

2:45-3:45 p.m. Marissa Meyer

Jepson Center, Boardroom

9-10 a.m. Kimberly Ergul and Holley Jaakkola

10:15-11:15 a.m. Kristyn Kusek Lewis

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.Kevin McCarey

1:30-2:30 p.m. Jim Morekis

2:45-3:45 p.m. Jane Fishman

4-5 p.m. Beverly Jenkins

For more information and a full schedule of events, go to www.savannahbookfestival.org.

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Very encouraging festival. Telfair Square was spectacular with all the authors. The last time so many authors came together I had to pay $25.00 just to enter the venue.'O-well just 9am to 5pm,next time until 9pm!.